Eurozone mulls Spain bank rescue

Eurozone finance ministers eyed an up to 100-billion-euro ($125 billion) strings-attached rescue of Spain's distressed banks at emergency talks on Saturday.With banks in the eurozone's fourth largest economy hobbled by heavy losses on real estate, finance ministers in the 17-nation Eurogroup held an emergency conference call to outline a rescue deal for Spain."The amount on the table at the moment is as much as up to 100 billion euros but this hasn't been decided yet," a senior EU official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

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By EconMatters:
Spain finally bowed to the rising interest rates and the billions of euros worth of bad loans at Spain's regional governments and asked for a loan. After emergency talks between eurozone finance ministers on Saturday, Spain will get up to $125 billion from the European Union (EU) to bail out out its banking system.

ATHENS, Greece — Greece slipped deeper into its financial abyss after the bailout program it has relied on for five years expired at midnight Tuesday and the country failed to repay a loan due to the International Monetary Fund.
With its failure to repay the roughly 1.6 billion euros (US$1.8 billion) to the IMF, Greece became the first developed country to fall into arrears on payments to the fund. The last country to do so was Zimbabwe in 2001.

ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appealed to his party’s lawmakers on Friday to back a tough reforms package after abruptly offering last-minute concessions to try to save the country from financial meltdown.
After walking into a party meeting to applause, Tsipras rallied his Syriza lawmakers to throw their weight behind the new proposals ahead of a snap vote in parliament on the negotiations, urging them to help keep Greece in the euro.
“We are confronted with crucial decisions,” a government official quoted Tspiras telling his Syriza lawmakers.

Eurozone finance ministers may meet on July 20 to finalise a rescue of Spain's banks, European sources said Wednesday."There is a strong possibility" that the ministers, known as the Eurogroup, will meet on July 20 as "the auditing of four banks isn't finished in Spain," said the sources.Spanish officials said they were negotiating with the European Commission on the details of the rescue and hoped to present a figure for the amount needed when the Eurogroup meets on July 9.However one source said "there are many things on the table for Monday, Greece among them".

Baghdad (AFP) - Washington is considering launching air strikes, possibly within days, to back up Iraqi and Shiite forces battling to recapture Tikrit from the Islamic State jihadist group, US officials said.

The devil lies in the detail of Cyprus’s salvation.
The island nation’s rescue sets precedents for the eurozone that may stick in the memory of depositors and bondholders alike as investors debate who will next fall victim to the debt crisis. Under the terms of the agreement struck early this morning in Brussels, senior Cypriot bank bond holders will take losses and uninsured depositors will be largely wiped out.

Eurozone finance ministers are to hold an emergency conference call on Saturday on aid for banks in Spain, tipped as the fourth and biggest country to need help in Europe's two-year debt crisis.A teleconference of the Eurogroup of finance ministers was planned at 1400 GMT "to agree a declaration on Spain's intention to request aid and the Eurogroup's commitment to granting it," a European government official said.